Monday, January 16, 2017

Library. Dee. Monas hieroglyphica

The book has its own article at Wikipedia. Here is an excerpt from that article:

The Hieroglyphic embodies Dee's vision of the unity of the Cosmos and is a composite of various esoteric and astrological symbols. Dee wrote a commentary on it which serves as a primer of its mysteries. However, the obscurity of the commentary is such that it is believed that Dee used it as a sort of textbook for a more detailed explanation of the Hieroglyph which he would give in person. In the absence of any remaining detail of this explanation we may never know the full significance of the Glyph.

The edition at Hathi Trust is a good scan, very readable. Here is the title page, which does indeed show the glyph:

There are some charts in the book, and I have selected some to include here: